Hill v. State

1983 OK CR 161, 672 P.2d 308, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 340
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma
DecidedNovember 22, 1983
DocketF-82-457
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 1983 OK CR 161 (Hill v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. State, 1983 OK CR 161, 672 P.2d 308, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 340 (Okla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

OPINION

CORNISH, Judge:

Willie James Hill was convicted of two counts of Murder in the First Degree. The charges arose out of the shooting deaths of his estranged wife, Latonya (“Shelley”) Hill, and his mother-in-law, Anita Louise Byron. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on both counts, and he appeals. We affirm.

*310 I.

As his first assignment of error, appellant contends that the evidence at the preliminary examination and the trial was insufficient to show that he acted with malice. This contention is without merit.

When the sufficiency of the evidence at trial is challenged on appeal, the proper test is whether a prima facie case has been established. In applying this test, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the State. If that test is satisfied, then all questions of fact are for the jury to resolve. Renfro v. State, 607 P.2d 703 (Okl.Cr.1980). “Prima facie case” has been defined as:

Such as will suffice until contradicted and overcome by other evidence. A case which has proceeded upon sufficient proof to that stage where it will support finding if evidence to contrary is disregarded. (Citations omitted.)

Black’s Law Dictionary, Fourth Revised Edition (1968).

It is clear that a prima facie case was presented at trial. Malice is a deliberate intention unlawfully to take away the life of a human being, as manifested by external circumstances capable of proof. 21 O.S. 1981, 701.7(A) (amended in non-material respects by Laws 1982, c. 279, § 1). The victims died of multiple gunshot wounds, all but one of which were inflicted at close range. The murder weapon, based on ballistics tests of four bullets recovered from the bodies, was an Interarm Rossi five-shot .38 caliber revolver. The gun was registered to the victim, Ms. Byron, but was in the possession of the appellant just before and after the shootings.

Appellant was aware of his wife’s threat to hire someone to kill him. On the evening of April 25, 1981, his wife confronted him several times brandishing the .38 caliber Rossi. Appellant finally disarmed her, and retained possession of the gun. At about 8:30 p.m. that same night, the victims met appellant in the driveway of a mutual friend to regain possession of the gun. At that time, appellant sought to apprise his mother-in-law of threats against him by his wife. After they reacted with derision, gunfire broke out.

The mother of the mutual friend, Rose Marie Allen, testified that after the first shots, she rushed to the door of the residence. She saw appellant and his wife at the rear of the victim’s vehicle. Appellant’s back was to the witness, and Mrs. Hill was facing him. The witness heard additional shots and saw Mrs. Hill fall toward appellant, who then turned with a gun and shot into the driver’s side of the victim’s car.

The medical and physical evidence was consistent with the theory that Ms. Byron, who was seated in the front passenger’s seat, was shot twice from the passenger’s side of the car, and that Mrs. Hill was shot once from the same side as she exited through the driver’s door. The evidence also supported the inference that Ms. Byron was shot a third time from the driver’s side of the car. After his arrest at the scene, appellant told the police that “he didn’t want to be running for the rest of his life.”

Appellant sought to demonstrate that Ms. Byron was shot accidently, or in self-defense, during a struggle in the ear for control of the Rossi handgun, which appellant had given back to Ms. Byron. He further contended that Mrs. Hill was shot once accidentally during the struggle for the gun, and a second time when she pointed another gun at appellant. He also challenged the credibility of the State’s witnesses, and noted inconsistencies and the possibility of conflicting inferences from the evidence. However, the credibility of witnesses and the weight and value to be given their testimony is within the province of the jury, Renfro v. State, supra, and their determination will not be disturbed simply because different inferences may properly be drawn from the testimony. Jennings v. State, 506 P.2d 931 (Okl.Cr.1978).

Appellant’s suggestion that the evidence was insufficient to show malice at the preliminary hearing is also without merit. The evidence was substantially the same in material respects as at trial. When there is competent evidence in the record from *311 which the magistrate, as trier of fact, may reasonably conclude that there was probable cause to believe that a crime was committed and that defendant committed it, the reviewing court will not interfere. Shriver v. State, 632 P.2d 420 (Okl.Cr.1980) cert. den., 449 U.S. 983, 101 S.Ct. 399, 66 L.Ed.2d 245.

The first assignment of error is without merit.

II.

As his second assignment of error, appellant contends that the State failed to produce the victims’ car for defense inspection, depriving the defense of the opportunity to show that blood stains on the driver’s seat matched the blood type of Mrs. Hill.

Under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 89, 83 S.Ct. 1194, 1197, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), the suppression of evidence “material to guilt or punishment” may violate due process. However, implicit in the Brady requirement of materiality is the concern that the suppressed evidence might have affected the outcome of the trial. United States v. Agurs, 427 U.S. 97, 96 S.Ct. 2392, 49 L.Ed.2d 342 (1976). In this case, the prosecution did not dispute the fact that the blood stains resulted from the wounding of Mrs. Hill as she exited the car. Accordingly, the evidence was not material in the requisite sense, and appellant’s argument is unavailing.

III.

As his third assignment of error, appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying a motion for continuance.

The decision to grant a continuance lies within the discretion of the trial court. Smith v. State, 659 P.2d 330 (Okl.Cr.1983). Three of the grounds urged in support of the motion depended upon the resolution of issues of law not presented for review on this appeal. The fourth ground dealt with the need for more time to search for the victims’ car.

Since the fact that the blood on the driver’s seat was Mrs. Hill’s was not disputed at trial, appellant was not prejudiced by the ruling. Moreover, the failure to support the motion by affidavit was fatal. Smith v. State, 644 P.2d 106 (Okl.Cr.1982). Finally, appellant was granted a thirty day continuance to search for the car, and failed to allege facts showing due diligence in support of a further continuance. See, 12 O.S.1981, § 668.

No abuse of discretion is shown.

IV.

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Bluebook (online)
1983 OK CR 161, 672 P.2d 308, 1983 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 340, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-state-oklacrimapp-1983.